CARMONA, Cavite – Sadom Kaewkanjana of Thailand handled the elements pretty well in his turn to play the more demanding afternoon flight on Friday, shooting a four-under-par 66 to pad his Smart Infinity Philippine Open lead to three as Justin Quiban assumed the role as the local spearhead with a record round.
Kaewkanjana, a 26-year-old who has won twice on the Asian Tour, mixed six birdies with two bogeys in a round that ended before dusk, upping his tally to 131 to be three strokes ahead of American Micah Shin, who shot a 65 in the morning when conditions were a lot more benign.
“I am very happy with the way I played today, coming back (from two back nine bogeys),” Sadom, who didn’t drop a shot in polishing off an opening 65 on Thursday, said. “I will have the same approach for the final two days. Do the same things I did in the first two rounds, hopefully.”
Quiban, meanwhile, established the record for the Manila Southwoods Masters course playing as a par-70 for the first time, as he had an eagle-spiked 64 to be just six shots behind heading into the weekend.
“It was just the driver. I hit it so well today,” Quiban said when asked what made the difference between an opening 73 and that 66. “I’m just happy with the way I played and being able to be in contention.”
His eagle on the par-5 No. 8 coming from a 6-iron from 219 yards that landed within gimme distance highlighted a frontside 31 and Quiban said that he has no problems to now be the tip of the Philippine sword in the final two days.
“Not at all,” Quiban said as a number of fancied locals failed to make the cut, counting 2008 champion Angelo Que, last year’s Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner Antonio Lascuna and girl wonder Rianne Malixi.
Shin, who grew up in Davao, had seven birdies against two bogeys for 134 with Sweden’s Aaron Wilkin and Japan’s Tomoyo Ikemura another shot behind after shooting a 69 and 66, respectively.
Miguel Tabuena made the cut on the number, which was at 142, after shooting a 68 with Justin delos Santos, the Japan Tour campaigner, shooting a 69 to be eight shots behind.
Sean Ramos, the young Filipino who opened with a 68, held a piece of the lead after his first nine holes at six-under overall, before faltering coming home and settling for a 70 to be one shot off Quiban’s group.
Aidric Chan, the Asian Tour rookie who also shot a 68 on Friday, shot a 71 to be in the company of Delos Santos and Eric Gallardo in a 12-man group at 139.
Malixi, the 17-year-old, fired a 72 to end her historic campaign as the only female player in the Open in the last two decades or so.
“If given the chance again, I will definitely play,” Malixi said. “It was a great experience for me.”
